I’ve never enjoyed answering this question, and I’m not alone. Most people squirm uncomfortably when this question is asked. People don’t squirm because it’s a tough question, people squirm because it’s a bad question. Sure, it’s better than, “If you were an animal, what animal would you be?” But it’s still bad, because the answer does not tell you what you think it does.

Hiring managers, do you interpret a decisive answer to this question as a good indicator of a candidate’s drive and ambition? It’s not.

Do you interpret an uneasy answer to this question as a candidate’s lack of goal orientation? It’s not.

It’s just a question borne of a different era — the man in the grey flannel suit era. Perhaps 50 years ago people in stable organizations could plan careers by saying, "I see myself as director of (blank) in three years,” or, “I plan to be vice president of (blank) in five years.”

But today, most top performers don’t set their career sights on a specific title. Early in the interview process, most people haven’t even seen your org chart. And by the time they’re hired, you've probably reorganized anyway. So smart candidates are wise enough not to presume to know how fast they will move up the ladder in your evolving organization.

So retire this old chestnut of an interview question unless you want to see how convincingly someone can give you a rehearsed answer without believing a word of it.

But then again, what if candidates really did believe they could plan their career that way? Could you promise them anything in five years? Of course not. Most organizations work on a planning cycle of three years or less. The whole exercise just sets you up for a cycle of empty rhetoric.

You will learn far more about someone’s ambition and interests when you start a conversation by asking, “What kinds of business problems do you enjoy solving?” When you plumb the depths of those situations, you’ll find real gold.

I’ve spent my career getting better at solving staffing problems. They fascinate me. But if you show me an accounting problem, then I’m bored. If a candidate takes a career approach similar to mine, they’re not focused on whether they will be a director in five years. They’re focused on constantly improving their ability to solve increasingly complex problems in areas that interest them. And if they did that for you, you’d probably promote them long before five years.

Bob Corlett writes about innovation, staffing, leadership and performance management for The Business Journals. He is a founding member of the Editorial Advisory Board for The HR Examiner and the founder and president of Staffing Advisors, an executive search firm located near Washington DC.